Ralf Tebest, Health Care: Current Reviews 2015, 2:5 http://dx.doi.org/10.4172/2375-4273.C1.014
4th Global Summit on
HealthcareNovember 09-10, 2015 Dubai, UAE
“Pflegestützpunkte”, care support centers in Germany. Where are we heading? Results ofthe evaluation of all 48 care support centers in Baden-Württemberg Ralf Tebest University of Cologne, Germany
he counseling infrastructure for elderly and vulnerable people in Germany needs to be improved in terms of transparency, Tinterconnection and coordination of its services. According to the German Care Reform 2008, care support centers, known as “Pflegestützpunkte,” should solve this problem by putting all relevant counseling services under one roof. Until now, 500 care support offer their services. The objective of the study was to evaluate all 48 care support centers established in Baden- Württemberg 5 years after the German Care Reform came into force. Firstly, the documentation of all 48 care support centers from the third largest federal state of Germany was analyzed. Moreover, interviews on the topic of the underlying concepts of their organization were conducted with employees of the care support centers. The results show a wide range of services from “light” (minimally work intensive) practical assistance to promote self-help, up to comprehensive case management. The wide variety of counseling services offered also shows that these care support centers can meet a lot of different needs and requirements of their clients. It becomes clear that the services offered are used by people of all ages, who are already in need of care or who are trying to prevent this need from occurring. Nevertheless, results also show that not all goals of the care support centers were achieved. It remains unclear which role the care support centers play in counseling related to health and long term care insurances and similar services. The need for further development should be considered when the intended enlargement of care support centers is taking place.
Biography Ralf Tebest is a Nurse and Health Care Economist. He is an expert of the German Health Care System, in particular, the counseling and care of elderly and vulnerable people. He has conducted a lot of scientific projects, including the evaluation of the care support centers in Baden-Württemberg and North-Rhine- Westphalia.
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Health Care: Current Reviews 2015 Volume 2 Issue 5 ISSN: 2375-4273, HCCR an open access journal Healthcare 2015 November 09-10, 2015
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